


In Which Arthur and Merlin Try To Out-Court Each Other

by SilverMyfanwy



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Arthur Knows About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Canon Era, Courtship, Flowers, Fluff, Horses, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Picnics, Presents, Training
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:28:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24553894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverMyfanwy/pseuds/SilverMyfanwy
Summary: “You want to court me?” Merlin laughed. “What on- are you just practicing for asking Gwen or something?”“No.” Arthur said, glowering. “I’m asking you because I want to court you. If I wanted to court Gwen, I’d be asking her, wouldn’t I, you idiot!”Merlin stared at Arthur in astonishment. “You actually want to court me? You’re not joking?”“Of course I’m not joking!” Arthur stomped over to a cupboard and took out a vase of flowers. “I got you flowers and everything!”
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 25
Kudos: 523





	In Which Arthur and Merlin Try To Out-Court Each Other

**Author's Note:**

> No warnings I can think of. Let me know if I've missed something.  
> First Merlin fanfic I wrote! Enjoy!

“You want to court _me_?” Merlin laughed. “What on- are you just practicing for asking Gwen or something?”

“No.” Arthur said, glowering. “I’m asking you because I want to court _you_. If I wanted to court Gwen, I’d be asking her, wouldn’t I, you idiot!”

Merlin stared at Arthur in astonishment. “You actually want to court me? You’re not joking?”

“Of course I’m not joking!” Arthur stomped over to a cupboard and took out a vase of flowers. “I got you flowers and everything.”

The flowers were what startled Merlin the most. “You- you got me flowers?”

“Yes! And I actually picked them myself; I didn’t get a servant to do it.” he rolled up his sleeve and thrust his arm in Merlin’s face. “Look, I’ve got scratches from the brambles and everything!”

“You’re actually serious about this, aren’t you?”

Arthur stared at Merlin incredulously. “Yes! Of course I am, you oaf why else would I-” he gestured at the flowers. “These were a waste of time, clearly, anyway.” he added rather bitterly.

Merlin looked at the floor and muttered something.

“What was that?”

Merlin was blushing. “I accept your offer of courtship.”

“What?”

“You just asked to court me, I said yes.” Merlin said, exasperated. “Are you really that-”

He shut up when Arthur kissed him, then whined when Arthur pulled away. “That wasn’t long enough.”

“No, it wasn’t, but I haven’t been courting you long enough for that.”

“You’ve been courting me for three seconds, I don’t think you should have been kissing me at all. Can we just go with it and-”

Arthur shook his head. “Nope. Absolutely not. I am the Crown Prince of Camelot things must be done properly. I cannot have people thinking I am treating the man I am courting incorrectly.”

“Does that mean you’re going to stop making me polish your armour?” Merlin asked hopefully.

“No. You’re still my manservant and appearances must be kept up.”

“Why?” Merlin asked flatly. “Why can’t you just tell people we’re courting so you’ve decided to be nicer to me and get someone else to polish your armour?”

 _Because people can’t know we’re courting until after I’ve legalised magic because if they find out before they’ll think you’ve enchanted me._ Arthur thought, but he couldn’t say it out loud because Merlin didn’t know he knew and Arthur had a very complicated plan in place that had to be adhered to or their relationship may have Merlin executed.

“I think it may be best if we wait for a while before telling my father and the court that the heir to the throne is courting his _man_ servant.” Arthur said quietly. And there was that, of course.

“Ah. Yes.” Merlin’s face fell slightly, then became rather determined. “Well, if you’re not letting me stop polishing your armour, I expect more flowers.”

-

If Arthur was ever so slightly nicer to Merlin over the next few days, no-one mentioned it After the flowers, Arthur and Merlin had carried on much as they had before- thought with less throwing-things-in-Merlin’s-direction. Then Merlin made the next move- he was determined to court Arthur just as much as Arthur was courting him.

“What have I got to do today?” Arthur asked as he rolled out of bed.

“Almost absolutely nothing.” Merlin said, beaming.

Arthur groaned. “Does that mean I’ve got loads to do?”

Merlin shook his head. “I’m telling the truth. The only thing you have to do today is go for a ride.”

Arthur froze from where he was about to start eating breakfast and slowly turned to look at Merlin. “Who am I going riding with?”

“Me.”

“Anyone else.”

“Nope.”

“And what do we have to do on this ride?” Arthur asked suspiciously.

“You’ll have to wait and see.”

Arthur broke off a piece of bread and ate it. “I’m sure I had something to do today.”

“I’m sure you didn’t.” Merlin assured him.

“Merlin, did you clear my day so we could go riding together?” Arthur asked.

Merlin looked at the floor. “Maybe.”

“Thank you.” Arthur said quietly. “When do we leave?”

-

“Can we be out here all day?” Arthur asked as they rode through the woods outside Camelot.

“No. I cleared your whole day so we could be out here for half an hour.” Merlin said sarcastically. “Of course we’re going to be here all day, dollophead.”

“Are we going anywhere in particular or is it whenever the horses want to go?”

Merlin shook his head. “Nope. There's somewhere I want to show you.”

“I take it that whilst I’m supposed to be the one courting you, you have also taken it into your hands to court me as well.” Arthur said.

“Was I supposed to have asked for your permission to court you?” Merlin asked sarcastically, then pale and swore. “I'm supposed to ask your father, aren’t I?”

Arthur nodded, grinning at the look of horror on Merlin’s face. “Don’t worry. You don't have to if you don’t want to.”

“I think he might have me executed on the spot if I asked him that.” Merlin said.

“I’d save you.” Arthur promised. “I’d persuade him not to kill you.”

“So I would be exiled instead. Great. I think I’m gonna leave all the official familial decorum to you.”

“Should I have asked your mother for permission to court you, then?”

“Probably!” Merlin said cheerfully. “I don’t think she’ll mind that you didn’t, though. Slow down a bit, we’re almost there.”

The path they were following went up a hill and the tress for thicker and thicker. Arthur began to grow anxious. “I don’t like this place. There could be bandits.”

“You’ll like it in a minute!” Merlin called back, sounding far cheerier than he normally would have. Given that it was normally Merlin getting nervous in the woods and suggesting that they go back, Arthur decided to trust him and carry on riding.

Merlin steered his horse off the path and Arthur followed. They headed down the hill and Arthur realised they were on the side of a ridge, at the bottom of which was-

“Woah.” Arthur was concentrating at the waterfall and the river, so couldn’t actually see Merlin’s face, but he could picture exactly the smug grin that would be there.

“Told you you’d like it.”

A cascading waterfall tumbled over a rock face and sparkled along a river full of clear sparkling water. On either side of the river were plains of grass and wildflowers framed from above by tree branches that filtered sunlight through pale green leaves.

“I'm not a girl, Merlin, I don’t like things like this.” Arthur said, slightly too long afterwards to be true.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Arthur, you know you like it. And liking nice places doesn’t mean you’re a girl and there's nothing wrong with being a girl anyway.”

Arthur opened his mouth to protest and Merlin shot him a look, eyebrows raised.

“Anything you say on that, I will not hesitate to tell to both Morgana and Gwen.” Merlin said.

Arthur shot him a playful glare and dismounted, leading his horse down to the water so it could drink. “Is there a particular reason you brought us here, Merlin, or are we just going to stand here and look at the trees?”

“This is where we’re going to eat. We can tie the horses up over there and eat her.” Merlin dismounted and took the baskets of food off his horse before securing it to a tree.

“What’ve you nicked from the kitchens?” Arthur asked as Merlin took the basket of food over to where he was standing.

“Bread.”

“Good.”

“Cheese.”

“Better.”

“Meat.”

“Excellent.”

“Pie.”

“I knew there was a reason I was courting you.” Arthur kissed Merlin on the forehead with a loud smacking sound and took the basket out of his hands so he could start rifling through it. “Oh you have got the good stuff, Merlin. Bravo. Put the blanket out.”

Merlin spread the blanket out and they sat down. On the many previous occasions when Merlin had accompanied Arthur on picnics with ladies and princesses and noble women, there had been plates, cutlery, pillows and napkins. This time, there was only food and knives.

“This isn’t very civilized, Merlin.” Arthur said. “Where are the plates?” he then quite gleefully took out a tart and shoved it in his mouth in two bites.

“I had a funny feeling you wouldn’t need one. And it left more room for food.” Merlin sat down next to Arthur.

Arthur patted Merlin on the shoulder. “Good thinking. Cheese?”

They ate in quiet content until Arthur’s attention began to veer away from the chicken he was eating. How did you find this place?”

I was out looking for herbs for Gaius one day when I found it?” Merlin said.

“This is a long way from the castle. Do you really have to come all the way out here to get herbs?”

“Sometimes.”

“Isn’t there any way of making the herbs grow closer to Camelot? You couldn’t plant them In the gardens or something?” Arthur suggested.

Merlin shrugged. “Dunno. I’d have to ask Gaius.”

“I don’t spend much time in the gardens.” Arthur mused. “I've never really understood the point of them. Do you like gardens?”

“I like flowers.” Merlin said.

“Are the ones at Camelot any good?” Arthur asked.

Merlin turned to stare at him. “When you said ‘I don’t spend much time in Camelot, what you really meant was ‘I don’t spend any time in Camelot’, didn’t you?”

“Eh.”

“The flowers at Camelot are perfectly fine.” Merlin said. “Maybe we should go to the garden son and you can see what you’re missing out on.”

“I always thought that the space would be better used as an extended training ground for the knights. So that we could have mock battles. Or skirmishes, rather. Practice for bandit attacks.” Arthur said somewhat wistfully.

“I think the gardeners would have your head if you did that.” Merlin said. “And your father.”

“I could win him around to it.” Arthur said confidently. “Did you like the flowers I gave you?”

Merlin rolled his eyes and leaned over to kiss Arthur, who froze with shock for a moment and then responded enthusiastically. Merlin pulled away. “Dollophead. Of course I liked them.”

Arthur’s smile was so smug that Merlin felt he had no choice but to kiss it off his face.

-

“Did I just see the wardrobe being carried through the square?” Merlin yelled out as he stormed into Gaius’s chambers.

Gaius looked up from a book. “I believe that Arthur has sent you a new one.”

Merlin furrowed his eyebrows and walked into his room, where sure enough he found a brand new wardrobe made of dark, shining wood with metal handles on the doors. When he opened it up, ti was full of clothes made of clean, expensive fabric, quality akin to that of Arthur’s own clothes. The styles were similar to what he normally wore, though the colours were brighter and the hems firmer. A stack of neckerchiefs were balanced on top of a new jacket and Merlin found himself momentarily stunned.

Arthur had almost exactly replaced all his clothes with nicer, stronger versions.

Merlin wasn't really sure how to feel about it. He had no emotional attachment to any of the clothes Arthur appeared to have removed, but the shock and surprise was-

Whatever that particular mix of emotions was, it was soon replaced by the realisation that Arthur was out-courting him and he needed to up his game.

-

Arthur stared at his breakfast with eyebrows raised. “Merlin!”

“Do you not like it, sire?” Merlin asked, looking genuinely worried that Arthur might not.

“Is this- is this from the cook or did you do this?”

“Cook made it, obviously, but I persuaded her to make you something special.” Merlin smiled at the plate of berries and pastries. “I remembered you liking this at that feast.”

Arthur beamed at the food and then beamed at Merlin. He kissed him quickly, like a secret. “Thank you. I love it.”

-

“Merlin! Stick around at training this morning. Arthur called out cheerily as they crossed paths in the corridor. “I’ll need your help.” He turned a corner without giving Merlin a chance to respond.

Merlin gulped and prayed that he wasn’t needed for target practice.

He waited on the edge of the training field for the entire session, waiting miserably to be handed a shield and a helmet and to be told that he was pretending to be an enemy soldier. It never happened; Arthur dismissed his soldiers as usual, then walked over to Merlin, smiling and sweaty. “Ready?”

“For what? You’ve finished training.”

“I’ve finished training the _knights_. I haven’t even started with you.” Arthur beamed from ear to ear and Merlin felt his heart sinking to the pit of his stomach. Arthur saw his face and laughed, patting him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’m going to teach you how to fight.”

“That worries me a lot.” Merlin said.

“I won’t hurt you.” Arthur promised. He handed Merlin a sword. “Do you know what to do?”

“Pick up a shield and hide underneath it?”

“The only time you would ever have shield is in a tournament or a battle and I’m not letting you in either. If we get attacked by bandits, you won’t have shield with you. So, sword. Start with that one; I’ll go to the blacksmith's and have them make a proper one for you. I've got some dummies over there; I’m going to teach you how to hold a sword and how to stab someone.” Arthur smiled brightly. “How does that sound?”

“Could we maybe no do the stabbing bit?” Merlin asked tentatively. Could you just show me how to knock people out instead?” he knew full well ow to knock people out with magic, but Arthur didn’t know that so he had to keep up some sort of a pretense of incompetence.

Arthur seemed determined to keep him on his toes, however, as he then looked around the field got a bit before giving Merlin a knowing look. “Merlin, you are more than capable of knocking people out without even lifting a finger. But I want you to be able to manage without your magic.”

Merlin froze. “You know?”

Arthur nodded. He saw Merlin begin to shake and tossed the sword away to pull Merlin into his arms. “Don’t worry. I don’t hate you, I won’t tell my father, I won’t have you killed or exiled. I'm not going to tell anyone.”

“How did you know?” Merlin whispered into Arthur’s shoulder, still shaking.

“Spellbooks kept on getting found in your rooms.” Arthur admitted. “And I suddenly got a lot better at fighting people while unconscious when you showed up. And your eyes go golden, sometimes.” he lowered his voice. “I think it’s beautiful.”

Merlin half sobbed, half chuckled and pulled away slightly. “Of course that's what you’d focus on. And my magic- it was only ever for you, Arthur. Only for you.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Arthur stroked the side of Merlin’s face. “I understand why you didn’t tell me.”

“I didn’t want to make you chose between me and your father.” Merlin whispered, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

Arthur had no choice but to hug him again. “I would pick you every time. You think I would have wanted you, knowing you had magic if I didn’t know that my father’s beliefs are wrong and that I believe in you so much I would willingly loose everything?”

Merlin sobbed again.

“When I am king, magic will be legal.” Arthur promised. “You've shown me that that’s how things should be.”

“You can’t expect me to train after all that.” Merlin murmured, still crying into Arthur’s armour.

“I probably shouldn’t. It might end in disaster. But with you, it’d probably end in disaster anyway even if you’re not the idiot you make yourself out to be after all.”

Merlin sighed dramatically. “You've discovered my true intelligence level. I’m done for.”

Arthur hugged Merlin again and smiled. “Come on. Let’s go and find you some food. It will help you feel better.” he kissed Merlin on the forehead and tugged him towards the castle.

-

Arthur had never been more scared about going to see Gauis.

“Arthur! Can I help you?” Gaius asked when he opened the door and smiled.

Arthur nodded shakily. “I have something to ask you. Can I come in?”

“Of course. Is something troubling you?”

Arthur realised just how much he was wringing his hands and biting his lip. “It’s, um, it’s about Merlin.”

“Is he alright?”

“Yes! Yes, he's fine, completely and utterly, it’s just that there is a dance next week and I was- I would like your permission to have Merlin there as my partner. Not as my servant.”

A grin spread across Gaius’s face. “Of course! I'm delighted. I thought you had something awful to tell me. I'm sure that he will be delighted to. You have my full permission; just make sure he doesn’t get too drunk. I’ll need him the next morning.”

Arthur didn’t think his smile could get much bigger. “I won’t. Thank you!”

He left to go and tell Merlin.

-

“What will your father say?”

Arthur's smiled got even bigger. “He's not going to be there. He's going to the hunting lodge by the Western border. For the hunting season there. He's leaving me here in charge of Camelot. That means you can sit next to me at the feast and then you can dance with me.”

“Who’s the most important person that’s going to be there?” Merlin asked. “Other than you?”

“Me. And the knights. The important lords and the council members who will be there won’t care if they see us together.”

A tiny glimmer of hope was spreading across Merlin’s face. “We can be together in front of other people.” He whispered.

“And I asked Gaius's permission to take you.” Arthur admitted.

Merlin hugged him.

-

A week later, the day after they had fond out that Uther was going to stay in the West for another two weeks as Arthur had successfully managed to keep Camelot intact, Merlin managed to get Arthur an afternoon off. “No meetings, no council, no training, and we’ll only be in one of the fields literally outside the walls of Camelot so if anything happens it will take us two minutes to get back there, the sentries on the wall will be able to see us and it will be completely and utterly safe.”

Arthur still seemed slightly hesitant about it.

“An hour.” Merlin said. “Please. One hour.”

“One hour.” Arthur agreed.

-

This is the best hour of my week.” Arthur decided.

They were lying on their backs in the meadow, cold, compact dirt pressing against their backs and staring at the sky. Grasses towered over them, yellow, green and brown. Bugs climbed over them and the plants, spiders crawling amongst the moss and the ground. Flies clustered over their heads and birds sang relentlessly.

“This is the best hour of my week too.” Merlin said.

Arthur elbowed him. Merlin elbowed him back. They began to wrestle with each other, giggling. They rolled around, getting grass in their faces and mud on their hands. They faced each other and Merlin smiled; Arthur put his hands on either side of Merlin's face and stroked his cheeks. He kissed him.

“You have grass seeds in your hair.” Merlin said.

Arthur smiled with slightly crooked somehow-still-all-intact-teeth, kissed Merlin on the tip of his nose, his cheek, his forehead, his lips. “I sued to dream about leaving Camelot behind and becoming a farmer.”

Merlin looked at him in amazement. “Did you?”

“Yes. Except I wouldn’t really have become a farmer. You would have done the farming and I would have supervised and rode horses all day.”

“That sounds ever so similar to our jobs now.” Merlin said, smiling. “What do you dream of now?”

“Leaving Camelot behind and being your supervisor on a farm.”

They laughed and wrestled and kissed until one of the sentries yelled at them that it was time to go back.

Merlin came up with a plan.

-

Merlin was used to feeling scared about knocking on Morgana’s door. He had been slightly terrified of her when he first started working for Arthur, then there had been a lot of bad news he had to deliver and plots to thwart, plus the brief moment where she had almost turned evil, but that had all been resolved now.

This time was the scariest of all.

“Merlin! How lovely to see you! Has Arthur sent you as a messenger again?” Morgana gestured Merlin into her chambers.

Merlin shook his head. “I have a question. Well, it’s not really a question, more a request.”

“If you need help with something, I’ll do everything I can.” Morgana promised. “What is it?”

Merlin took a deep breath. “Arthur and I are courting.”

“I am aware.” Morgana's smile grew when she saw Merlin's shock. “Of course I knew! Magic, remember? And I may also have found Arthur writing you poetry and threatened to show it to the knights if he didn’t tell me what was gong on.”

Merlin breathed a sigh of relief.

“You were saying?”

“I’d like to ask for your blessing to ask Arthur to marry me.”

Morgana’s mouth fell open slightly and her face lit up. “You- really?”

Merlin nodded. “I know that it can’t really happen and that I;m a servant and I should be asking Uther and offering an alliance and-”

“Merlin.”

Merlin stopped talking.

“I give you my blessing and I promise that I will do everything I can to make sure you can get married.”

“He’ll say no.” Merlin whispered.

Morgana shook her head. He loves you more than you realise. And if he has even half as much of a brain as I think he does, he’ll know that when he is king, he- and Camelot- will be far stronger with you by his side than anyone he married to secure an alliance.”

Merlin smiled, corners of his mouth quivering as he tried not to cry. “Thank you.”

“It’s my pleasure to get him off my hands. Now go and ask him!”

-

Arthur smiled when he caught sight of Merlin. He closed the book he was reading and got to his feet. “Merlin! I was just about to come looking for you. Where’ve you been?”

“I went to see Morgana. Arthur, there’s something I need to ask you.” Merlin swallowed

“What is it?” Arthur asked, slightly impatiently.

Merlin walked closer to Arthur and got down on one knee. Arthur’s eyes went wide.

“I know it’s not my place to do this, but I love you with all my heart, Arthur Pendragon, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you not just because of destiny, but because we have chosen to tie our lives closer together than destiny has. I went to Morgana to ask for her blessing t ask for your hand in marriage. She said yes.” Merlin took a deep breath. “I haven’t got anything to offer you; a kingdom, an alliance. I tried to make a ring but it turned into a magpie. I gave you my heart and my loyalty long ago. I will understand if you say no, but Arthur Pendragon, will you marry me?”

“Why would I ever say no?” Arthur whispered hoarsely, reaching out for Merlin. “Why would I ever say no?” he held Merlin tightly. “I love you. I want to marry you. That’s all that matters. And when it comes to me ruling Camelot, you are the strongest, most powerful ally I could ever have.”

“Morgana said something similar.”

“Don’t tell her she was right.” Arthur pulled away slightly and kissed Merlin, then went over to his desk. “I had been hoping to win, but it would appear you’ve beaten me to it.” He opened a drawer and pulled out a small pouch, from which he took a silver ring.

“Does this mean I successfully courted you and you didn’t successfully court me, because I proposed first?” Merlin asked, delighted.

Arthur scowled and slid the ring onto Merlin;s finger. “It would appear you have.”

“You can have a kiss as compensation.”

“I want at least three.

It was at that moment that Gwen and Morgana came charging in to congratulate them.

THE END.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on tumblr! I'm silvermyfanwy


End file.
